


Pleasure Island

by Shinyunderwater



Series: Outrun the Sunset [2]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-16
Updated: 2019-01-25
Packaged: 2019-10-11 09:20:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17444159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shinyunderwater/pseuds/Shinyunderwater
Summary: The Doctor and co. randomly end up in an amusement park that shouldn't exist. It's not all fun and games when the team fear children might be in danger. Kids will be kids, but some behavior is too strange to brush off. Children vanishing in and out of existence, children who sit still as stone and children who may not be human at all lead the TARDIS team to conclude something strange is afoot.





	1. Part One

**Author's Note:**

> It's not necessary to read part one of the series to read this story. They're supposed to be like episodes of the show and stand on their own within the larger narrative.

“So, where are we now Doc?” Graham tried to peek out the window, but as always the opaque glass betrayed no secrets.

 

“Dunno,” the Doctor said. “I put her on the random setting. Just for a lark.”

 

“Oh great,” Graham replied. “So outside these doors could be a 40° desert filled with poisonous scorpions and snakes?”

 

“Could be,” the Doctor said in a chipper tone.

 

“That was real specific Granddad.”

 

“I wouldn't mind a bit of heat,” Yaz said. “Not 40° mind you, but a nice beach maybe?”

 

“Well, let's see what we got!” The Doctor wore her mad grin as she yanked the doors open with a flourish. She stepped outside and frowned in disappointment. “Oh, London.”

 

Graham followed the Doctor, expecting to see tall buildings and busses. Instead he found himself inside a huge theme park. They were surrounded by neon roller coasters, quaint concession stands and games of chance masquerading as games of skill. “Doc, this isn't London. Unless London in the future is converted into a tacky amusement park.”

 

“This isn't the future. We're in the present day,” the Doctor said as Ryan and Yaz followed them out. Yaz made sure to shut the door behind her. “London, Earth, 2019.”

 

“This can't be London,” Yaz said.

 

“Well when I say London I mean just outside of London,” the Doctor said. “I recognize the taste of the air. I've been to London a lot.”

 

“And the city just let them build a gigantic theme park here,” Ryan asked.

 

“Guess so,” the Doctor said.

 

“That doesn't seem right,” Graham said. “Doc are you sure you're… tasting the air right?”

 

“I'm positive. But if you're in doubt we can ask somebody. Excuse me!” The Doctor waved her arms in a frantic manner at a woman passing by in a cheery cherry uniform.

 

“Yes ma'am,” the cheery worker asked.

 

“Are we in London, technically speaking?”

 

“Yes ma'am.” Her eyes darted to each of them in turn. “Where are your children?”

 

“Oh, um…” The Doctor thought fast. She put an arm around Ryan. “Right here. This is my son Ryan,” the Doctor grinned as though what she had said was normal and plausible.

 

The employee frowned. “I’m afraid if you don't have any children with you you'll have to leave the premises,” she said.

 

“My daughter is joking,” Graham said, thinking on his feet. He tried to form a reasonable story in his head. “My wife took the kids for snacks. She'll be back in a mo.”

 

“I'm sorry sir, but for the safety of our guests we have a strict policy here at Children's Fantastic Fantasy Funland of no more than one adult per child. So, how many children are in your party if I may ask?”

 

Graham had the impression that ‘you may not ask’ wouldn't work as a response. “Five?” He tallied the members of their party and added one for the imaginary Grace at the pretzel stand with the fake children. “Yeah, five.”

 

“Five,” she asked.

 

“Yep,” the Doctor said. “We're a big family.”

 

The employee looked unsure. “Right, well I suppose you wouldn't have been let in without the proper number of children.”

 

“Exactly,” the Doctor said. “And we did come in through the front like everybody else.”

 

Yaz elbowed her. The employee gave them a last appraisal before leaving. “We should get going then,” Graham said. “Try for Yaz's beach. Or maybe head back to those crystal gardens we just left, that was something.”

 

“Go,” the Doctor asked. “We just got here.”

 

“But Doctor,” Yaz said. “This place is only for children. We shouldn't be here.” Graham followed Yaz's gaze to the rides, all of which had seats too small for anyone larger than a petite teenager. The counters at the food stalls were thigh high. Most disconcerting of all, there were no other adults in view except for the cheery cherry employees. Kids ran around shouting and laughing, but none seemed to have any parents with them.

 

“I'm young at heart,” the Doctor said. “In a very literal sense my heart is quite young.”

 

“Yeah well, mileage on your organs aside Doc,” Graham began. “If we keep hanging around here we're like to get mistaken for pedophiles. Now I don't fancy that prospect, so I vote we hightail it back to the whispering forests or those floating islands,” he said.

 

“The floating islands were grand,” Ryan said.

 

Graham turned around, assuming they would be leaving. To his surprise a young girl was standing right in front of the TARDIS, staring at its doors with a kind of wonder. She looked to be about eight. Her hair was twisted into a dozen braids ending in pink and purple plastic beads that clacked together as she tilted her head from side to side, examining the blue box. “Excuse me luv,” Graham said.

 

The little girl turned around. “Hi,” she said.

 

“You might want to keep away from there. I think that's where they store the cleaning supplies, lots of dangerous chemicals.”

 

The little girl pointed at the sign. “It says police,” she said. “Not cleaning supplies.”

 

“Aye, but that's just for decoration.”

 

The girl looked Graham up and down. “Are you the police,” she demanded.

 

“No, just a bloke.”

 

She looked over his shoulder at Ryan, Yaz and the Doctor. “Are they the police?”

 

“I am,” Yaz said. “Do you need a police officer? Are you lost or hurt?”

 

“No,” the girl said. “Did you come here in that police box?” She pointed at the TARDIS.

 

Graham was stunned. He worried that the little girl might have seen them materialize and then exit the TARDIS. Of course he then realized that a little girl, having no idea what a police box was, might just assume that it was a box police officers were stored in. Kids thought funny things, and that was nothing to be concerned about. Graham laughed.

 

“Why are you laughing?” The little girl looked put out. “That isn't funny. Don't laugh.”

 

Graham sobered. “Sorry kiddo. No, we didn't come in the police box,” he told her.

 

She stood on her tiptoes to try and look through the window, but she wasn't tall enough and the glass was still opaque. “Do you think there's anybody in there?”

 

“No,” Yaz said. “Like Graham was saying it's probably just used for storage. Are you sure you aren't lost? Where's your family?”

 

“Not all who wander are lost,” the girl said.

 

“Tolkien,” the Doctor said. “I liked Tolkien, he was a fun guy. We went joyriding on a city bus together once, that was a day.”

 

“Doctor,” Yaz said in the tone of voice she reserved for when the Doctor said something strange or suspicious. “Let's not joke around.”

 

“Right, right, I've never been an accomplice to automotive theft, of course.”

 

“Or met Tolkien,” Yaz said.

 

“Yeah, never done that. Never even read the books. I don't even know who he is really.”

 

Graham leaned towards her. “Overcorrecting a bit,” he whispered.

 

“Do you need help finding your family,” Yaz asked. “Don't worry. You won't get in trouble for losing them. It happens to everybody.”

 

“Especially here,” the girl said. “You don't  need an adult in this park, and there's not even any allowed if you're in the special kids only area. But I snuck away from there.”

 

Graham and Ryan exchanged a look. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Yaz and the Doctor doing the same thing. “Why did you sneak away,” Yaz asked. “Did you feel like you were unsafe? Did someone hurt you?”

 

The little girl took a chain out of her pocket with an oval locket attached to it. “No one can hurt me,” she said. She put on the necklace.

 

Graham blinked. He didn't see a little girl. He turned around in a circle. “Where'd she go?”

 

They all turned to the Doctor in hopes of a sensible explanation. No such was forthcoming. The Doctor did however give them a wide grin. “Guess we're staying.”

 

“You don't have to be so pleased,” Graham reprimanded her. “Kids could be in danger.”

 

“You heard her. She said no one could hurt her,” the Doctor said.

 

“Putting aside the fact that there are probably hundreds, maybe thousands, of kids in this park, just because she said that doesn't make it so. Little kids say things that aren't true all the time. They don't know any better.”

 

“Kids know more than you think,” the Doctor said. “You just don't remember all the stuff you knew as a kid because you grew up.”

 

“I don't think that's how it works Doc.”

 

“Because you forgot,” the Doctor said as though Graham's disagreement had proved her point for her. “Now I'd like to see what's happening in that kids only area.”

 

“Why would parents let their kids wander around a park unsupervised,” Yaz asked.

 

“My Nan would never let me run off like that when I was in grade school,” Ryan said.

 

“Yeah, I remember her telling me a story once about your dad and how when he was a bit he ran off into a copse of trees by the playground and she grounded him for an entire month. She said she almost lost her mind when she turned about and he wasn't there anymore,” Graham said.

 

“She'd get used to it,” Ryan mumbled.

 

Graham was surprised by Ryan's response and his bitter tone. Graham had been under the impression that Ryan and Aaron had been working on their relationship since New Year's Day. Aaron had even been over for dinner a few times and Graham had been able to have a few pleasant conversations with him. “Well,” he said, trying to recover from his momentary confusion. “There's a strong chance that something happening here shouldn't be. I'm not going to assume it's aliens, but that does often tend to be the case, so I won't be shocked when it's aliens.”

 

“Right,” the Doctor said. “Ryan, you and I are going to try to find out what's happening in that children's area. Yaz, you and Graham see if you can find any parents to talk to.”

 

“Talk about what,” Graham asked.

 

“The park,” the Doctor said over her shoulder since she already had ahold of Ryan's arm and was leading him forward.

 

“Right, okay. Because that's not vague at all and won't make us look a bit suspicious.”

 

Yaz patted Graham's back. “Maybe we'll get lucky and they've all already been eaten by the aliens,” she joked. “Then we won't have to talk to anybody. Come on then.”

 

Graham sighed, but he followed Yaz through the park. The longer they stayed the stranger and more out of place Graham felt. There were kids everywhere, and the occasional red adorned employee could be seen from time to time. However there wasn't a single parent in view. A feeling of deep unease settled over Graham. “Yaz, this isn't right.”

 

“I know,” she said. “It's eerie.”

 

“Maybe we should go find the Doc and-”

 

“Look!” Yaz pointed ahead. Graham let go of a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding when he saw a large building labeled as the 'Parents Cafe’ and a huge crowd of adults inside. His relief grew when they drew closer and saw that the people inside were wearing normal clothes and seemed under no particular duress. Yaz smiled at him.

 

He returned her grin. “I don't see any children inside, so we won't stick out too bad.”

 

“We should split up,” she suggested. “Work our way through the cafe. I'll go left and you go right. Why do I sound like I'm preparing a battle strategy?” She chuckled at herself.

 

“I'd follow you into battle,” Graham said.

 

Yaz shook her head. “Once more into the breach soldier,” she said. “See you on the other side.” She walked into the cafe.

 

Graham waited a few minutes so it wouldn't look like they came in together. Just as he was about to go inside he thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He turned around. “Hello?” The only people nearby were running children. Graham decided it must have been one of them he saw, so he went inside without a worry.


	2. Part Two

Ryan stared up at a lime green roller coaster that went straight up before taking its riders down a sheer drop. “We should test that.”

 

“Huh?” The Doctor followed his line of sight to the ride. “Looks fun. Maybe we can sneak on after we figure out what's happening.”

 

Ryan grinned. “You really are young at heart.”

 

“Well when you get to be my age you stop worrying about whether or not something is childish and just do what makes you happy.”

 

“How old are you anyway,” Ryan asked.

 

“It depends on how you count.”

 

Ryan considered this is he watched children screaming with joy on a spinning ride. “You're older than Graham, aren't you,” he asked.

 

“Much older.”

 

“Older than any human alive?”

 

“That is correct.”

 

Ryan looked at the kids again, their fresh faces, their malleable minds. They were so young and full of potential. He looked at the Doctor and tried to conceptualize the idea of her age. It was difficult. She looked young, and sometimes she acted younger than she looked. But sometimes she acted older.

 

“Ryan.”

 

“Huh?” He shook himself from his reverie.

 

“Look.” The Doctor gave a discreet nod in the direction of five children sitting at a table.

 

At first Ryan saw nothing amiss, but the longer he looked at them the more a feeling of disquiet burrowed into him. There was a box of pizza open in front of the children, but not one slice was missing, and the pizza had gone cold. The children sat in silence, not speaking to each other, not moving around in the squirmy way children do. The only proof they were alive was their upright posture and the rise and fall of their chests. “Do you think something has been done to them?”

 

The Doctor took out her Sonic and edged closer to the children. She waved the device over them and then examined it. “That's not our main concern,” the Doctor said.

 

“What are you saying? Of course it's our concern if someone hurt these kids.”

 

“They're not kids. They're aliens.” One of the children turned around and hissed at the Doctor. The Doctor put up her hands and took several steps back. “I didn't mean any offense by that! I'm an alien too!”

 

A different child, a boy with cold green eyes like flecks of emerald climbed onto the table and stood up. “What is your business here?”

 

“No business. I just love a good amusement park, don't I Ryan?” She gave him a meaningful look. “All the adrenaline and greasy food, my idea of a good time.”

 

“This is a place for children. You are not a child,” the emerald boy snarled.

 

“Well in the face of the infinite nature of the universe I would argue that we're all children in a way. But if we're talking about the developmental stages of our respective species then I would point out that you are not children either, strictly speaking.”

 

The emerald boy glared. “We are anthropologists. We have come to observe.”

 

“Nothing wrong with that,” the Doctor said.

 

“Unless you're doing something to the kids in the park,” Ryan said. “Then we have ourselves a serious problem mates.”

 

A girl who looked to be about five, with pretty oval eyes and freckles, looked at the emerald boy and spoke as if the Doctor and Ryan were not there. “Solve the error at once.”

 

The emerald boy looked almost afraid, but a moment later he was staring the Doctor down again. “What is your authority?”

 

The Doctor pulled out her psychic paper and flashed it at them. “Shadow proclamation, I-”

 

“The paper is blank,” the little girl said without turning around to look at it. She still faced the roller coasters. “It says nothing. They lie.”

 

“Hang on!” The Doctor shoved her psychic paper back into her pocket. “I may not be with the shadow proclamation, but I can call a Jadoon squad to come here. So unless you want a bunch of bulls stampeding through your china shop-” she began, building up steam for one of her classic ultimatums.

 

“They look more like rhinos,” Ryan said.

 

“Yes, but the expression is bull in a china shop. I was trying to be poetic.”

 

“But is that even an expression on other planets? Do they have bulls in space?”

 

The Doctor made a 'good point’ face. Then she remembered she was in the middle of an important threat. “I want a full tour of this whole operation,” she demanded. “At once.”

 

“You will taint our observations,” the emerald boy complained. “The subjects have to be seen in their natural habitat, in their most authentic state. Your presence will introduce chaotic variables,” he all but hissed to her.

 

“Chaotic variables is pretty much my middle name,” the Doctor said with a cheeky grin.

 

Ryan watched the children who weren't children. The small child who looked young and Asian but was, according to the Doctor, in fact old and from another planet, continued to look at the playing children and refuse to address them. The boy with the green eyes kept standing on the table glaring at them with twisted features. The other three children faced them and almost looked like they were waiting for something, some command. Ryan feared that command might be to attack, disembowel and kill them. “Doctor,” he said.

 

The Doctor followed his eyes again, and took in the sight of the creatures. “Well, am I going to get the tour or not,” she said, uncowed.

 

“Oblige them,” the disinterested alien commanded. “Solve the error with haste.”

 

The emerald boy climbed down. “Follow me.”

 

Ryan took one last look at the aliens, and then at the oblivious joyful kids that surrounded them, before following the Doctor and emerald eyes away. Ryan watched the back of his head and tried to see the alien for what he really was. “Do you have a name?”

 

Emerald eyes didn't deign to look at Ryan when he responded. “Of course I do.”

 

“What is it?”

 

“You would not understand it.”

 

“I would, and my friend here will surprise you with what he knows.” The Doctor sounded as though she were offered on Ryan's behalf.

 

Emerald eyes scoffed. “Then what are your names, oh ones of great impertinence?”

 

“I love being called impertinent,” the Doctor said with a warm smile splashed on her face.

 

“I'm Ryan, and this is the Doctor.”

 

Emerald eyes stopped and turned to face the Doctor. “That name is known to me, to many.”

 

“It's a very common name,” the Doctor said.

 

“Not so. The Doctor is not a title any parent would bestow upon offspring, or that any would choose to wear. It is ill-omened.”

 

“Why do you say that,” Ryan asked. “To be a Doctor you have to be smart, and Doctors help people. What's so bad about that?”

 

Emerald eyes tilted his head and looked into Ryan's eyes like he was searching for something. “You do not know what she is.”

 

“What are you talking about mate?”

 

The Doctor interrupted. “You wouldn't be trying to distract us from our tour would you?”

 

Emerald eyes smiled. It was an unnatural cold thing. “Of course not. Let us continue.”

 

For a while after that they walked in silence towards the center of the park. There was a large circular gate inside. It looked like flimsy plastic, but Ryan sensed that looks were deceiving in this case. There was a mother outside the gate, waving at her son as he disappeared inside. She turned and walked away once he was out of view. She stopped in front of the Doctor and smiled. “Isn't it just grand here? The kids go inside, and I don't have to worry about them getting snatched because there aren't any adults. I can sit back and relax. I think I'll check my emails.”

 

Ryan watched the woman depart with a spring in her step. “She seem off to you?”

 

“Just a bit,” the Doctor murmured.

 

“You will have to use your lie,” emerald eyes told them. “The employees are humans who know nothing of us. They will not let you in.”

 

“Right.” Jodie pulled out her psychic paper.

 

As the Doctor approached the employee guarding the entrance Ryan saw a preteen come through the exit. She had warm brown skin and short locs. “Tally! Tally, where did you go? Mum's going to be livid,” she yelled.

 

Ryan approached her. “Do you need help?”

 

The girl, maybe twelve or thirteen, gave Ryan a suspicious appraisal. “Who are you?”

 

“I'm Ryan. Did you lose your sister?”

 

She scoffed. “AS IF. She's my cousin.”

 

“Alright then. Did you lose your cousin?”

 

“I shouldn't have to look after her. You don't need supervision here, that's the whole point of this place. But my mum says I have to look after her just because she's my cousin.”

 

“Families look after each other. That's a good thing, yeah?” Ryan smiled at the girl.

 

She rolled her eyes. “She thinks she can look after herself. She thinks she's so special just because she has a magic trinket,” the girl said with an irritated huff. “It isn't even hers.”

 

“What are you-” Ryan didn't get to finish.

 

“Bye!” The girl skipped away.

 

“Ryan!” Ryan looked at the Doctor. She was waving him over with that boundless energy of hers while a bemused cheery cherry looked on. “Let's get to work on that faulty wiring, yeah?” She beamed at him.

 

“Course.” Ryan joined the Doctor as emerald eyes ran in ahead of them. Ryan dismissed his encounter with the girl. Children said strange things, but he doubted her family drama had anything to do with the park.

 

“Did you make a new friend,” the Doctor asked as they passed through the gate.

 

“No, that would be a little- oh my days!”

 

The Doctor and Ryan froze. Emerald eyes stood in front of them and cackled, doubled over with spit flying from his mouth. Ryan looked from one section of the interior to another, trying to take in everything that he was seeing, but there was too much happening for anything to sink in. Two girls sat across from each other slurping down root beer floats in a sort of race that ended when one girl stopped and started wailing at the top of her lungs. Two boys were chasing each other with wooden swords. One hit the other on the wrist hard enough to make the other boy scream. The victim dropped his sword, but his opponent kept swinging at him without relent. A girl was shooting fireworks into a crowd. A boy was snorting powdered sugar while a girl next to him inhaled the red pepper flakes one puts on pizza. A boy drinking hot sauce gave up and tried to stop, but his friend grabbed the bottle and held it in place so he had to keep going. A little girl came running out of a crowd with tears streaming from her eyes making trails through the dirt and snot that was smeared all over her face. “I'm telling my mummy!”

 

The little girl ran past Ryan and the Doctor on her way out. A second later one of the children from the picnic table came in holding the hand of the girl Ryan had been talking to a minute ago. Once inside the girl was released and at once began to bawl at the top of her lungs. “You can't make me stay!”

 

A different picnic table child led the girl with the dirty face inside next. Again, the girl was quiet and docile while her hand was held, but the second the alien let go of her she resumed her wailing. “I want my mummy!”

 

The Doctor turned on emerald eyes. “This is NOT anthropology. Who are you really?”

 

The alien shrugged. “Does it matter?”

 

“Of course it matters,” Ryan shouted.

 

“Not to you.” Emerald eyes opened his mouth wider than could be possible without unhinging his jaw. He revealed rows and rows of wicked teeth. “Nothing matters to the dead my friend.” The alien lunged, landing on Ryan's chest and sending him to the ground.


	3. Part Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Possibly arrogant of me to assume anyone will care to know, but as a reward to my awesome commenters for every comment on this chapter I'll reveal the name of one of the upcoming stories in this series. There are twelve stories, so that's ten possible reveals.

Yaz smiled at a woman picking apart a danish at an otherwise empty table in the busy cafe. Yaz figured this person was as good a place as any to start her investigation into whatever it was she was meant to be investigating. “Is this seat taken?” Yaz indicated the chair across from the stranger.

 

“Of course not!” The woman mirrored Yaz's affable expression. “Please sit down. Get a load off of those feet. It's probably the first chance you've had all day, am I right?”

 

“What do you mean,” Yaz asked.

 

“Those bloody kids! I love my daughter to death, I promise you I do, but she drives me mental sometimes!” The woman chuckled and shook her head. “How old is yours?”

 

Yaz picked the first number that popped into her head. “Seven,” she said. “And yours?”

 

“Seven? Oh you're lucky. Mine's four. I can't wait until she starts school. Her da says she's growing up too fast, but of course he would say that what with him being at work all day.”

 

“Sure,” Yaz said.

 

“At first I was skeptical about the notion of this place, but once you hear all those expert testimonials you have to give it a try, yeah?”

 

“Definitely,” Yaz said. “But aren't you worried about what will happen if your child gets hurt and you aren't there? I mean, I know I am.”

 

The woman smiled and patted Yaz on the shoulder. “Don't worry dear. The park is designed to be safe for children of any age.”

 

“Yes but- Hey!” The little girl who had been examining the TARDIS earlier was sitting at their table. She hadn't walked up and sat down, not that Yaz had seen. One second she wasn't sitting there, and then she was.

 

“No it isn't,” she said as though she had always been a member of their conversation.

 

“What are you doing in here,” the woman asked the little girl. “This is the one part of the park where children aren't allowed. How did you get in here,” the woman demanded.

 

“I can go anywhere,” the little girl said.

 

“Is this your daughter,” the woman asked.

 

“Um-” Yaz was still recovering from the child's sudden appearance and unsure how to react.

 

“That's racist,” the little girl said. “Not all people who aren't white are related.”

 

“That’s not what I meant at all!” The woman looked mortified. “Please excuse me, I need to go check something.” She scurried away.

 

“My auntie says the fastest way to get rid of a white person is to start talking about race.”

 

Yaz conceded the point. “How did you do that earlier, disappear like that? And just now you came from nowhere. Are you an alien?”

 

“Of course I'm not an alien,” the girl said.

 

“Well how do you do it then?”

 

“My mum said never to tell.”

 

Yaz looked the girl up and down, trying to glean a clue as to her identity and her involvement in any potential oddities afflicting the park. She looked like a normal girl. She had warm copper skin, dark brown eyes and an adorable smile. She was wearing a futball jersey over a white t-shirt. She had a pink backpack with purple swirls on it that matched the beads in her hair. There was nothing odd or out of place about- “What happened to your necklace,” Yaz asked.

 

“What necklace,” the little girl asked with the insincere denial all children used, but few managed to pull off. “I'm not wearing one.”

 

“You put one on earlier before you vanished.”

 

“Nuh-uh,” the girl said.

 

“You so did,” Yaz insisted.

 

The girl crossed her arms over her chest and thumped down against the chair back with a petulant huff. “So what? I lost it I guess.”

 

Yaz started assembling the pieces in her mind. “It makes you invisible. When you-”

 

“No!” She leaned forward, caught up in the outrage of a child, that burned hot and then dissipated like smoke. “Not invisible!”

 

“Okay,” Yaz said. “Not invisible, but then-”

 

“When I wear the necklace it's hard for people to see me, okay? But I'm not invisible, I'm still right there. If you were about to walk into me you'd move out of the way. If I started waving at you then you'd see me. Okay?”

 

Yaz wasn't quite sure she understood, or even that the child knew what she was talking about and was being honest. However she had no desire to upset the girl again. “Okay.”

 

The little girl looked miserable. “My mum is going to be so mad. She told me never to use the locket unless there was an emergency.”

 

“Your mum gave you the necklace?”

 

“Yes, she said if I was ever in danger to put it on and run away. She said it was special.”

 

“Sounds special,” Yaz agreed. “But how does it work? Is it… some unique technology?”

 

“It was a gift.” The child's simplistic answer reminded Yaz that she was talking to someone who couldn't be expected to understand complex concepts. This child was no doubt bright and inquisitive, but she was still a child. Yaz wouldn't be surprised to learn the girl believed in fairies and mermaids.

 

“Right, you said your mother gave it to you.”

 

“Yeah, but it was her gift first. The magic man gave it to her. He gave one to my dad too, but this one is special. There are only two like it.”

 

Yaz tried to parse out what all that information added up to and came up with not much at all. “What's your name anyway?”

 

The girl squinted at her. “I'm not supposed to tell strangers my name, or talk to them at all.”

 

Yaz thought it prudent not to mention that they'd already done quite a bit of talking, and that the little girl had revealed quite a lot of personal information. “Well I'm Yasmin Khan.”

 

The girl put out her hand. “Nice to meet you Yasmin Khan. Are you really with the police?”

 

“Well… Yes, but the Sheffield police,” Yaz explained as she shook the girl's hand.

 

The girl snickered. “That's in the NORTH.”

 

“What's wrong with the north,” Yaz asked, playing up her offense to amuse the child.

 

“Nothing. This is London though.”

 

“Yes well I know that. Now are you going to tell me your name? You can trust me.”

 

“That's what people say when they want you to trust them. It isn't always true. That's what my daddy says. He says you should judge for yourself if a person is good, not just take their word for it,” the little girl proclaimed.

 

“Well then, what do you say? Am I good?”

 

The girl hesitated. “My name is Tally.”

 

“Tally?”

 

“It's a nickname. But it's what everyone calls me, even my parents,” Tally explained.

 

“Are you here with your parents?”

 

Tally shook her head. “I was playing at my uncle and aunt's house. She decided to bring us here. I don't like this place,” she said.

 

“Why? Did something happen?”

 

Tally frowned. “I just don't like it. Everything is strange. It's like they want us to be bad.”

 

“Who does?”

 

Tally shrugged. “It was scary in there, like in Pinocchio. Maybe they want to turn us all into donkeys to work in the mines!” Tally threw her hands up in the air. “So I snuck away.”

 

“When you say-”

 

Yaz was cut off by the sound of someone clearing their throat with as much volume as they could manage. Yaz looked over her shoulder and saw one of the cheery cherries standing there. “Hello valued guests!”

 

“Hi,” Yaz said. “Be with you in a moment.”

 

“Here at Children's Fantastic Fantasy Funland we've set aside the Parents Cafe as a place for adults to rest and relax, peaceful in the knowledge that their children are safe and having ever so much fun!” The cheery cherry wore a disturbing saccharine grin.

 

“That's great,” Yaz said. “Good for-”

 

“In order to keep all of our guests safe and happy we have a strict policy prohibiting children from entering the cafe,” cherry said.

 

“I just need to talk to-” Yaz looked at Tally, or rather the spot where Tally had been, to find that she was gone, or at least 'hard to see.’

 

“Thank you so much for your understanding.”

 

Yaz got to her feet. “No problem.”

 

“Is there anything I can get you,” the cherry asked as she sidestepped into Yaz's path.

 

“No. I'm just going to go outside.”

 

“Here at Children's Fantastic Fantasy Funland we do our very best to make sure all of your needs are provided for here in the-”

 

“I just need to talk to my daughter,” Yaz snapped at the cheery cherry. “Okay?”

 

“Here at Children's Fantastic Fantasy Funland we provide children with a safe environment to play and explore. Your daughter is in the very best of hands.”

 

Yaz shouldered past the woman to gain access to the exit. For a moment she feared more employees would come in and detain her, but all that happened was parents whispered and pointed at her. Social ridicule wasn't fatal, so Yaz made it out. Tally was waiting for her, sitting on a fence that any responsible adult would have told her to get down from at once. “This place is so weird.”

 

“Yeah,” Yaz agreed. “Something is wrong with the people that work here, and the parents.”

 

Tally kicked her feet. “So…What do we do now? Should I call my parents?”

 

“Not just yet.” Yaz looked through the window to try and catch a glimpse of Graham.

 

“My parents would know what to do.”

 

“Uh-huh.” Yaz caught sight of Graham and started waving to get his attention.

 

“Are you even listening to me?”

 

“Of course I am.” Graham looked over at her and she mouthed 'come outside’ at him.

 

“You are not.”

 

“Yes,” Yaz turned around to face her, but she was alone. Tally was gone, or at least 'hard to see’ again. “I am. Damnit. Tally! Tally!”

 

“Who are you talking to,” Graham asked as he left the cafe and joined her by the fence.

 

“The girl from earlier. Her name is Tally.”

 

“Tally?”

 

“It's a nickname. But she's gone again.”

 

“Should we look for her? Granted I'm not sure what that would accomplish after all.”

 

Yaz tried to suppress the guilt forming and twisting in her gut. If she had paid a bit more attention to the girl in all likelihood she wouldn't have pulled a vanishing act. But Yaz knew children thrive on attention. The whole point of disappearing was no doubt to garner more attention in the long run. That meant that Tally would be back. Of course Yaz was worried that some harm might befall her in the meantime. However all of the children were in danger, not just one. Tally had an advantage over the rest in that she could disappear if something threatened her.

 

“Yaz? What's wrong?”

 

“Nothing. We need to find the Doctor. There is something wrong with the parents, the staff, the whole park really. The Doctor can figure out what's going on. We need her.”

 

“Yeah I have to concur. The more time I spend in this place the weirder it becomes.”

 

“Come on then.” Yaz headed for the center of the park. If there was one thing the Doctor could be counted on to do it was to get to the heart of things. So that's where they would have to go. They passed the roller coasters, which now resembled mouse traps more than an enjoyable time. They passed the concession stands, which called to Yaz's mind a gingerbread house done up special for Hansel and Gretel. They passed the games that it seemed like every child always won, but that Yaz knew they were losing.

 

Graham pointed at a gate. “Do you think they're in there,” he asked, a slight nervous quality to his voice. “They may be anywhere.”

 

Yaz shook her head. “They're in there.”

 

“How do you reckon we get past red?”

 

Yaz looked at the smiling employee done all in crimson. They no longer looked cheery to Yaz, but psychotic. “I'm not sure,” she said.

 

“I can get in.”

 

Yaz looked down and saw Tally standing right next to her. “Were you there the whole time?”

 

Tally ignored that. “I can sneak in, find a weak point in the fence, and then sneak back out.”

 

“No way,” Graham said. “We're not going to endanger a child. That's out of the question.”

 

“Maybe I could borrow-” Yaz began.

 

“Nobody borrows my locket,” Tally said before Yaz could even finish suggesting it.

 

“I'd give it right back.”

 

Tally's response was to disappear. Yaz and Graham both looked around in order to catch a glimpse of her, but it was a fruitless exercise. “Do you think she went in?”

 

“Not sure,” Graham said, still looking all around. “But I do know one thing for a fact.”

 

“What's that?”

 

“If she were my kid I'd go absolutely mental.”


	4. Part Four

The Doctor took out her Sonic and aimed it at emerald eyes. He went still. Ryan scrambled to his feet. “What did you do to him?”

 

“Reversed the polarity,” the Doctor said.

 

“What?”

 

“He has a device in his hand that makes the children docile and suggestible when he touches them. I started a feedback loop and-”

 

“Okay great! Now what?” Ryan stepped closer to the Doctor as other aliens masquerading as children abandoned their pretense to encircle Ryan and the Doctor.

 

The Doctor looked at her Sonic and then at the dozens of children encroaching upon their space, teeth bared. “Give me a second.”

 

“Oh alright then. No rush.”

 

The Doctor put her Sonic in her pocket. “I am not your enemy,” she said, raising her hands and stepping closer to the not children.

 

“You are the Doctor,” emerald eyes said as the effects of the device wore off and he struggled to his feet. “You are known to us.”

 

“Then you know I'm not someone you should make angry if you can avoid it,” she said.

 

“When we kill you we shall be known throughout the universe as the mightiest warrior race that ever existed,” emerald eyes preened. “We will no longer need to rely on subterfuge to achieve our aims. Planets will be given over to us the moment we land.”

 

“It doesn't work like that,” the Doctor said.

 

“What do you want with kids,” Ryan asked.

 

“We have the ability to impersonate adults, but without their memories such disguises are difficult to maintain. We might be discovered, and the Earth would rally against us, but with children their identities can be crafted by us as they age. Human children are all the same. Parents will not notice a few changes here and there,” emerald eyes said.

 

The Doctor scoffed. “Have you ever met a human parent,” she demanded. The Doctor thought of Jackie Tyler, Francine Jones, Pete Tyler, Clive Jones and Wilfred Mott.

 

“We have met several. They are relaxing in a cafe while their offspring run wild.”

 

“Because you did something to them,” Ryan yelled. “You used mind control on them!”

 

“We did no such thing.”

 

“You told them that their children would be safe here,” the Doctor said.

 

“And they believed us. Now,” emerald eyes bared his teeth once more. “We plan to put the children we replaced to good use in our laboratories. They will be fine test subjects for our bioweapons.” The Doctor backed up and put a protective arm around the sniveling girl with a dirty face. “But you Doctor, you will be stuffed and mounted. You will be a trophy adorning the throne room of our Emperor!”

 

“No thanks,” the Doctor said. She swung the little girl up into her arms. “Run,” she shouted.

 

She saw Ryan grab the hand of the girl he had been talking to outside. Ryan and the preteen ran after the Doctor, depending on her to lead them to safety. The Doctor had no idea where she was going, but she did not intend to let them down. The aliens that were not children were fast. The Doctor knew they would catch up soon. She looped around, heading back towards the entrance and forcing the aliens to change direction. She sprinted towards the exit, only to be rebuffed by a forcefield. The Doctor was sent flying back by her own momentum. She landed hard on the stone ground, her head making an unpleasant loud thunk. The little girl was safe at least, shielded by the Doctor's body from any injury. The aliens encircled them again, mouths wide and teeth sharp.

 

“Doctor, what do we do,” Ryan pleaded.

 

“We-Ryan?” Ryan was gone. He and the little girl he had been holding onto were nowhere to be seen, vanished. “Ryan?!”

 

“What is this,” emerald eyes asked. “What sort of trickery have you used to hide him?”

 

The Doctor got to her feet with deliberate movements, careful not to jostle the child in her arms. The poor girl was shaking for fear and grief. The Doctor squeezed her arm, trying to communicate that everything would be fine. “He teleported out,” the Doctor lied with smooth ease. “He's on his way to contact the shadow proclamation right now.”

 

Emerald eyes advanced on her, froth forming at his mouth, and snarled. “You will die.”

 

The Doctor backed up. “That is one possibility,” she said. “You could kill me, and then when the shadow proclamation shows up and sees what you've done they'll kill you.”

 

Emerald eyes advanced further. “When they see we possess the body of the Doctor they will turn tail and run. They will run and hide from us, and everywhere they go they will speak of us in feared tones, the great army that conquered and slew the Doctor.”

 

“Yeah, that's not how Jadoon work. They aren't smart enough to feel fear. They'll come down, they'll find you guilty of trespassing, murder and attempted invasion. They'll kill you all, and I will walk away. Me and my friends, we'll walk away.” The Doctor paused just long enough for her words to sink in and for emerald eyes to see a glint of hesitation in her eyes. “Of course I won't be me anymore afterwards. I'll be someone else.”

 

“The legends,” emerald eyes whispered.

 

“What do the legends say?” Against her will a cruel grin spread over the Doctor's face.

 

“They say the Doctor wears many faces.”

 

“The legends are true. Now we could both die here today, but only one of us will walk away.”

 

“You speak as though there were a second option,” emerald eyes said in a nervous tone.

 

“Perhaps there is. But I just recalled that you are nothing more than a lacky. I will speak to your leader, or I will not speak at all.”

 

Emerald eyes considered. While he did so the Doctor put the little girl on her feet and took out a handkerchief. She pressed the handkerchief into the girl's hand. The girl stared at the Doctor. “What is this?”

 

The Doctor shook her head. “Everything is going to be alright, I promise you. Okay?”

 

The girl began to sniffle. “I want my mummy.”

 

“I know, but you have to be brave. It's the hardest thing in the world, but I know that you can do it, yes?” The Doctor brushed a strand of hair behind the girl's ear. “Just remember seven three eight. Can you do that? Please.”

 

“Seven three eight,” the girl whispered.

 

“Good lass. I'm very-”

 

“Come Doctor. We will finish your tour.”

 

The Doctor looked up at emerald eyes. “And I will speak with your leader,” she commanded.

 

“Yes. She is on her way.”

 

“You won't hurt any of these children?”

 

Emerald eyes shrugged. He looked around at the crowds of children, most more or less oblivious to the display going on in front of them, captivated by their games. “They are doing a fine job of hurting themselves.”

 

The Doctor scowled. She stood up and squeezed the little girl's shoulder. “Be brave.”

 

“Okay,” she whispered. “Seven three eight.”

 

The Doctor nodded, but did not look back, as she followed emerald eyes deeper into the children's only area. She passed crowd after crowd of children engaged in dangerous unhealthy behavior. She wanted to stop and help them, but the aliens kept right at her heel the entire walk. In the center of the park stood a small metal hut. Emerald eyes pulled out a key and unlocked the door. He stepped aside and gestured the Doctor to enter. She stepped over the threshold. Inside the metal hut were vats of white slime. Aliens that looked like children sat at laboratory benches, extracting DNA from bloody and snotty napkins, partially eaten food, sweaty coats and a variety of sources. The DNA was uploaded to the vats, and the Doctor saw child shaped alien after child shaped alien form in the slime. “Quite an operation.”

 

“Thank you.” The small child from earlier at the picnic table stepped forward to stand next to the Doctor. “Our natural form on our home planet is as you see.” She indicated the sloshing white goo. “We evolved to take the form of our prey back home, luring them to us. Our scientists perfected a method to let us transform into perfect genetic copies.”

 

“I think you mistook my statement for a compliment,” the Doctor snapped.

 

The tiny creature rolled her eyes. “There will always be those who stand in the way of progress, but that won't stop us. One day our slime pits will cover every planet in every system across the universe. We will become the last great empire. We will be worshipped by every species as gods, gods who came from the stars and brought enlightenment.”

 

“Enlightenment,” the Doctor asked. “You want to use children as genetic experiments!”

 

“All for the greater good Doctor. Once we control the universe there will never be another war. There will be no sickness, no famine, no conflict. Peace will prevail throughout every galaxy, and those who refuse to embrace peace will be annihilated.”

 

The Doctor watched a thing that looked like a child climb out of a vat and pick up some clothes piled on a bench. The alien dressed in a jumper decorated with bright colors and cartoon characters. “You will never be able to convince loving parents that these clones are their children. They'll notice the changes.”

 

The alien shrugged. “A few parents, in possession of uncommon devotion to their obnoxious offspring, may discern changes in their children, but what of it? Their claims will be taken for lunacy. They will be hospitalized or ostracized. Most parents will be grateful that their children have matured and stopped being so loud and demanding. Teachers will adore their new attentive pupils. We will do well in school, take important jobs within the governments of Earth, undermine your nations’ defenses and then we will invade.”

 

The Doctor watched a new not child sit down at a bench and begin working. “Earth is more resilient than you realize. Even if I fail to stop you the other nations of the world won't.”

 

“This is just the beginning. We will soon set up parks in every developed nation.”

 

The Doctor tore her eyes away from the profane proceedings before her. She was watching a genocide happen before her very eyes. She steeled herself and turned to stare down the leader. “You get one chance.”

 

The alien cocked her head. “What do you mean by that? One chance for what?”

 

“You get one chance to surrender, release the children, leave Earth and never return.”

 

The leader began to giggle. She looked like an actual child for the first time since the Doctor had seen her. Her laughter was melodic and sweet to the ear. Anyone who saw her in that moment would see a normal happy child. She stopped after about a minute of gleeful giggles. Her face resumed a serious uninterested expression. She turned to one of her scientists. “Have you finished tracking the teleportation signal,” she asked.

 

The scientist shook his head. “There is no trace of a signal. He must have used some sort of cloaking technology,” he said.

 

“Then he is still here. Find him. Begin the final phase.” She faced the Doctor. “We will take all of the children within the forcefield to our ship in order to transport them to our bioweapons labs. Their parents will return home with our soldiers, and in a few decades the invasion of Earth will begin.”

 

“Take me with you!” She got down on one knee to look her captor in the eye as she pleaded with her. “Take me to your labs and study me. If you could harness my regenerative abilities you'd be unstoppable.”

 

The girl tilted her head. “Why would you wish for this? Our experiments will be torturous.”

 

“I can't abandon these children. If I have failed them I deserve to suffer the same fate as them. Please, take me to the labs.”

 

The alien considered. “The Doctor's strange sense of honor is well known. We could benefit from studying your anatomy…”

 

“Then take me.”

 

The leader contemplated for a few agonizing moments before assenting. “It shall be.”

 

“Thank y-” The Doctor was grabbed by two child shaped aliens. They cuffed her and led her away, no doubt to a cell of some sort.

 

“You are very welcome,” the leader said as the Doctor was marched away.


	5. Part Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So apparently I'm not amazing at writing dialogue for children, especially groups of children. Oh well, what's done is done.

Graham put his hands on his hips and looked up at the bright sky. He wished the weather wasn't so nice today. The clear blue sky, fluffy clouds and warm sunlight contributed to the strange juxtaposition between the joyous atmosphere around them and the real danger he suspected they were all in. “Well we can't just keep waiting around here,” he said.

 

“What other choice do we have,” Yaz asked.

 

“I don't know, but we're not accomplishing anything by standing here, other than making that red weirdo suspicious.” Graham nodded towards the employee guarding the gate, who was starting to stare at them. “We should never have let that poor little girl wander off on her own. She could be hurt or in danger.”

 

“Just take it off!” Graham jumped at the noise and looked beside him. Ryan was taking off Tally's necklace while she and another girl, older but with similar features, hopped down from his back. Ryan also put down a small crying brunette. Tally snatched her necklace out of Ryan's hand. “Thank you very much.”

 

“Your mum is going to be furious,” the older girl told Tally in a tone of absolute delight.

 

“This counts as an emergency!”

 

Graham was distracted by the quarreling children when he noticed something in Ryan's hand. “What are you doing with the Doc's screwdriver,” he asked. “Where's she?”

 

The terrified little girl started sobbing. “Seven three eight,” she said. “Seven three eight.”

 

Yaz knelt down in front of the child and helped her clean her face. “You're safe now sweetheart. Whatever happened is over.”

 

“I wish,” Ryan said. He backpedaled when Yaz glared at him. “I mean yeah, all safe.”

 

“What's going on,” Graham asked.

 

“The Doctor-” Ryan began.

 

“It's Pleasure Island!” Tally waved her arms to emphasize her shout. “They're going to turn us into donkeys and send us to the mines!”

 

“You're such a FREAK Tally. That's just a stupid kid's movie. Why are so annoying?”

 

“Hey,” Ryan said. “That isn't very nice.”

 

“Whatever,” the older girl said.

 

“It's just like Pinocchio,” Tally insisted. “They tricked us into going to a place for just kids where we can be as bad as we like. Once we do enough bad stuff we'll turn into donkeys and be sent to the mines! It's true!”

 

“You're so STUPID Tally. No it ISN'T!”

 

“Alright, enough name calling,” Graham said.

 

Tally stuck her tongue out at the older girl, who then retaliated in kind. “Stop it, both of you, right now,” Yaz insisted. “Wouldn't it be better if we all helped and supported each other through this, instead of making the situation worse? Being unkind to one another only helps those who want us to suffer.”

 

The older girl rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

 

“Nan told you to stop saying whatever so much,” Tally said. “She said it's impolite.”

 

“I hate you!”

 

Graham patted Yaz's shoulder. “It was a good effort Yaz,” he said. Graham looked around for something to distract the kids. He noticed one of the concession stands nearby was unattended and walked over. He grabbed a few bags of chips, still warm, from over the counter and returned. “Who wants a snack?”

 

“Me!”

 

“I do!”

 

“Yes!”

 

Each girl grabbed a bag and stuck their hands inside for the greasy treat. “What is it with you and food,” Ryan asked with a laugh and a good natured shake of the head.

 

“When kids don't eat they get cranky.”

 

“I'm not cranky,” Tally interjected around a mouthful of potato. “I'm not a freak either.”

 

The older girl sighed, her frustration tempered by food. “Sorry Tally.”

 

Tally considered. “Fine. Sorry Keisha.”

 

“So Ryan, anytime you want to tell us what happened would be great,” Graham said.

 

“Right yeah. It was mental Granddad. Me and the Doctor found kids who weren't kids-”

 

“What were they,” Tally asked.

 

“Quit interrupting,” Keisha said.

 

“They were aliens,” Ryan said. “They said they were just anthropologists here to observe humanity, but they were lying.”

 

“What's an anthropologist,” Tally asked.

 

“A type of scientist,” Yaz said. “They study different cultures.” She smiled at the children.

 

“So what do they want,” Graham asked.

 

Ryan pointed to the gated area. “They want to replace all the kids inside there.”

 

“Replace us?!” The small girl who had kept repeating numbers burst into tears again.

 

“Why,” Yaz asked as she rubbed circles on the distraught child's back.

 

“Why else,” Graham said. “To take over the Earth I bet. That's just bloody grand.”

 

“You said a bad word,” Keisha said.

 

“I'm sorry. I'll put a pound in the swear jar later,” he promised. “But am I right?”

 

“Yeah. We were trapped, but then Tally she came in and slipped that necklace over me-”

 

“I saved him,” she said with pride. She gave her cousin a haughty look. “I saved you both.”

 

“After the aliens left with the Doctor-” Ryan was cut off again, this time by the small girl.

 

“She gave me that.” She pointed at the Sonic still in Ryan's hand. “She wrapped it in a hankie and put it in my hand. She said seven three eight. Seven three eight.”

 

Graham looked to Ryan for some sort of explanation. He obliged. “That's a setting on the Doctor's Sonic. There's a forcefield inside they activated once they had everyone trapped that could expose them. The Sonic got us through the forcefield,” Ryan said.

 

“Can it get us back in,” Yaz asked.

 

“We can't go in there,” Graham objected.

 

“The Doctor is in there,” Yaz said as if that surpassed all other considerations. Of course Graham knew for Yaz in all likelihood it did.

 

“The Doc is more than capable. Our number one priority needs to be getting these children out of harm's way. Then we can head back here and find the Doctor. She wouldn't want us to neglect these children to help her.”

 

Yaz looked away, but Graham knew she understood even if she didn't like it. “We need to evacuate the park. All of the children that weren't inside when the forcefield went up have to be taken to safety. Maybe we could set off a fire alarm,” she suggested.

 

“Can I stay here with you and help save the world,” Tally asked. “I could be like a spy.”

 

“No!” Graham, Yaz, Ryan and Keisha all responded at the same time.

 

“But I can help! We can call my mum and dad to come and help too! They're good at this sort of stuff,” Tally insisted. “Please.”

 

“No offense Tally,” Graham said. “I bet your mum and dad are really wonderful, but there probably isn't much they can do about an alien invasion.” He softened his words with a smile, but he doubted that would help much.

 

Tally crossed her arms. “My mum and dad-”

 

“Tally shut up!” Keisha grabbed her hand and started to pull her away. “We're not staying!”

 

“I know a way you can help.” Yaz knelt down and gave Tally an encouraging grin. “You and your cousin can help the other children evac-”

 

“I'm not stupid,” Tally interrupted.

 

“No one thinks you're stupid,” Ryan said.

 

“Sometimes the right thing to do isn't fun or exciting,” Yaz said. “But the most important thing is helping people. Right now you'll be helping everybody in the park by going with the other children. Alright Tally,” Yaz asked.

 

Tally crossed her arms. “Fine.”

 

“Right,” Ryan said. “You know how it's dangerous and wrong to yell fire in a crowd.”

 

A sly smile spread over Tally's face. “Yeah.”

 

“Not today it isn't.”

 

Graham tried to remember if he'd seen a single fire alarm all day, but he couldn't recall a one. It made sense. The aliens wanted to trap people in the park. They wouldn't include anything that could encourage people to leave en masse. “We have to spread the word ourselves, run throughout the park, yelling as loud as we can.”

 

“I can do that,” the smallest girl said.

 

Tally and Keisha smiled at each other. “So can we,” Keisha said. “Nan says we're good at being loud. We can shout all day.”

 

“Grandad,” Ryan said. “I think I might have a good idea. What do they say about smoke?”

 

“Where there's smoke, there's fire,” Tally yelled. “Are you going to set the park on fire?”

 

“No,” Graham said. “You aren't are you?”

 

“Course not. And you don't need to look so excited at the prospect,” he told Tally.

 

Yaz nodded, following along. “The friers for the chips, and the wood ovens for the pizza.”

 

“The steam and smoke get vented out through pipes, but if we open them up and let it all into the air people might think something in the park is on fire. It isn't dangerous.”

 

“Can I come,” Tally asked again.

 

“No,” Yaz said kindly. “You kids need to go with Graham and be the alarm, remember?”

 

“Hang on,” Graham said. “Why am I on child minding duty,” he asked. “Wouldn't one of you be better at that? You were just kids yourself not too long ago. You have more in common.”

 

“Exactly, they need a responsible adult to look after them. Good luck.” Yaz clapped him on the back and took off for the chips stand.

 

“Have fun Granddad.” Ryan ran off in a new direction. “I believe in you,” he yelled back.

 

Graham sighed. “Alright, here's what we're going to do-” he began.

 

Keisha interrupted. “Fire!”

 

The other two girls joined in. “Fire!”

 

The employee who had been watching them earlier ran over. “What happened?!”

 

“There's a big fire mate, huge,” Graham said.

 

“Where,” the employee asked as the children ran away to spread their message.

 

“You didn't see it? Fire!”

 

“No! Wh-”

 

“Look I have to catch up to my grandkids, but you need to evacuate or something.”

 

“But-”

 

“Fire!” Graham ran after the three girls. “Make sure you stay together! Fire! Fire!”

 

They headed for the cafe. All the children they passed panicked and joined the outward rush, forming a stampede of sorts. The more voices that joined their chorus the easier it was to forget there wasn't an actual fire destroying the park. When the children reached the cafe horrified parents came running out, looking for their children and demanding answers. “Keisha!” A woman separated herself from the crowd and pulled Keisha into a tight hug. “What on Earth is going on? Where is your cousin?”

 

Graham looked all around, but it was no use, Tally had disappeared again. He had a suspicion where she might go. “Don't worry miss, I'll find her,” Graham told the woman.

 

“Who the hell are you?!”

 

“Mum,” Keisha said. “There are aliens!”

 

“You have been listening to far too many of your aunt's stories. Who is that man?”

 

“No time to explain. Get your daughter to safety. I promise I'll find your niece and bring her to you,” Graham said. Without waiting to hear her no doubt bemused response Graham took off running back towards the center of the park. He was certain Tally had gone to fine Yaz and Ryan. If she hadn't, he had no way of finding her. At least her invisibility offered her a modicum of safety.

 

“Granddad!” Graham spotted Ryan and Yaz and stopped running. “Are you alright?”

 

Graham nodded. “The parents are taking their kids out of the park. At least the ones whose children weren't in the center.”

 

“The Doctor will save them,” Ryan said.

 

“Maybe she needs our help,” Yaz replied.

 

Graham looked past them at the entrance to the park center. Children were exiting the center, but Graham was under no delusion that these were actual children. “I think we might need our help,” he told his friends.

 

Ryan and Yaz turned around and took in the sight of the snarling aliens. Ryan took out the Doctor's Sonic and pointed it at the horde of approaching monsters. “Stay back,” he said.

 

“That is not a weapon,” a pale girl with flowing red hair said. “You are all unarmed.”

 

“Yeah? Well so's the Doctor, always. And she  finds a way out of these types of situations all the time,” Ryan said. “So,” He looked at Graham and Yaz. “What would she do?”

 

Graham gave Ryan an incredulous expression. “How should I know?”

 

Yaz stepped forward. “Where is the Doctor?”

 

“She is our prisoner. We are taking her to our genetics laboratory on our home planet to be dissected, that we might unlock her secrets.”

 

“You can't!” Yaz looked panicked.

 

Graham put a hand on her shoulder. “Yaz, we need to run.” He saw the aliens start to flank.

 

Yaz shrugged off his hand. “Take me to her.”

 

“Yaz! Are you mental,” Ryan asked.

 

“Take me to her now!”

 

The alien cocked her head. “A human adult may be a useful subject. Studying you might help us with our development schedule of the simulated growth and maturity of our undercover soldiers.” The alien smiled and began to nod. “Yes, surrender and we will take you to the labs,” the alien agreed.

 

“Yaz, do not do this,” Graham said. “The Doctor would not want you to do this.”

 

“The Doctor isn't here,” she whispered.

 

“Yaz-”

 

“Get ready to run.” Yaz put up her hands and began to take small steps forward.

 

“Yaz!”

 

“Go!” Yaz ran for the aliens. The soldiers rushed her, tackling her to the ground.

 

“Come on Granddad!” Ryan pulled him away from the scene and they ran.

 

“We can't just leave her!”

 

“We can't leave the parents still stuck here to the mercy of these aliens either! They'll come here looking for their kids! We have to warn them away! Yaz knows what she’s doing!”

 

Graham wondered about that. He believed in Yaz. He hadn't just been joking when he’d said that he would follow her into battle. But Yaz hadn't wanted to be followed. She had told them to leave her. Graham couldn't help but wonder if that meant that she didn't expect to escape. He wondered if she had thrown herself to the wolves, just for a chance to see the Doctor one last time.


	6. Part Six

The Doctor opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling. Her cell was small. It had enough room for a bed and a toilet. She kept her eyes locked on the ceiling and she did not move. An observer might have thought she was despondent. That wasn't the case. She was thinking. Her ancient mind, with all the facts that it contained, was whirring away.

 

“Mummy!” Somewhere down the hall a little boy was crying out in terror. That wasn't helping her think. The shouts filled her mind and disrupted her calculations. She needed to ignore them, but she couldn't.

 

“My daddy is going to kill you!” False bravado paving over real agony. “Let me go!”

 

The Doctor couldn't listen. The Doctor had to focus. She sat up on the bed. “Can you all hear me,” she asked the occupants of the other cells. The cacophony of screams died down as they recognized an adult's voice.

 

“Who are you,” a little girl asked.

 

“I'm the Doctor. I'm locked up just like all of you are. I'm a prisoner. But I'm not afraid, and do you want to know why,” she asked them.

 

“Why,” a small boy asked.

 

“I'm not afraid because they've only locked up my body. They can't lock away my mind.”

 

“What?”

 

“The creatures who lured you here, who locked us up, they might seem scary, but you don't have to be afraid of them. They want you to be afraid of them, so they've done everything they can to scare you. You don't need to be ashamed if you are afraid, but please understand, you are stronger by far.”

 

“How are we strong,” a girl asked. “They can make us be still. They have scary teeth and are so fast. What can we do,” she begged.

 

“You can be brave. You can be clever. You can work together. Most important of all, you can open the tanks behind your toilets and yank those little chains out,” she said.

 

“What,” a confounded child asked.

 

“Pass them down to me and I'll build something that can free us all.”

 

The Doctor heard several children get to work, so she did the same. She opened the water tank, yanked the chain out, and set to work prying open and straightening the links of the chains. A clacking and then a sliding sound made her look up. One of the children had thrown their chain. It didn't go far enough to reach the Doctor, but the child in the nearest cell grabbed it and threw it along with her own chain the rest of the way. So the work went on. The Doctor toiled. She tried not to think about what was at stake and focus on the work before her. She calculated exact angles in her mind. She tricked physics into forming the shapes she needed. The metal cut into her skin and her fingers bled, but she worked on. At last she had the tools she needed to pry the emergency control panel off the wall and rewire the doors. She peeled the insulation off the wires and with the utmost caution crossed just the right two to make all the doors spring open. She bounded outside to greet the children.

 

One girl stood in front of her, blinking in amazement. “What do we do now?”

 

“Would you all like to go home,” the Doctor asked. “See your mummies and daddies?”

 

All of the children began emphatic nodding.

 

“Come on then. Follow me.” The Doctor smiled at the hundreds of children that stood in front of her. There were too many to keep track of, but they were all her responsibility now. The Doctor steeled herself and walked to the end of the hall. There was a door there with a small glass window. She looked through the window and saw another one of the genetics labs, complete with the storage vats and DNA extractors. The Doctor pried off the control panel again and overrode the door controls. She ushered the children into the laboratory. “Hurry, hurry. That's it,” she said.

 

One boy balked at the entryway. “I don't want to go in there. They took me in there earlier and made me spit on a slide. It was scary.”

 

The Doctor knelt in front of him. It made sense that the aliens hadn't been able to steal a DNA sample from every child using their covert methods. The children that had been missed must have been brought in here to be processed. That was why there was a lab right off of the prison hall. “I won't let them touch you again. I'll protect you,” she said.

 

“But I'm scared.”

 

The Doctor smiled. “What's your name?”

 

“Will,” the little boy said. He was small, no more than four or five by the Doctor's estimation, and he was kissed by the sun.

 

“Hello Will. Do you want to know a secret?”

 

He nodded. “The things that scare you, they get scared too. Do you know what of?”

 

He shook his head. “What?”

 

“Me,” she said, smile widening. “Now Will, do you trust me to protect you,” she asked.

 

He nodded. “Yes ma'am.”

 

“Take my hand Will. We'll go inside together.”

 

Will took her hand and she walked him into the laboratory. Once inside the Doctor sealed the doors and sat down at one of the benches, examining the equipment that she had to work with. “Can we help you,” a small girl who looked identical to the alien leader asked. This was the original, the real child.

 

“Of course you can,” the Doctor said with a wide grin. “Hand me one of those beakers.”

 

The children made excellent lab assistants when given clear direction. They ran about the huge lab picking up equipment and running it to the Doctor. They seemed to view their tasks as a sort of game, and it distracted them from their earlier terror. At last the Doctor motioned for the children to be still and quiet. “I need each of you to come forward one at a time.” The Doctor picked up a small needle. “I have something for you.”

 

“Is it a shot,” a girl asked. “I hate shots.”

 

“Everybody hates shots, but you know how certain shots keep you from getting sick?”

 

“My mum says that isn't true,” a gangly pale boy said. “She says vaccines are a government conspiracy to make you dumb.”

 

“No offense to your mum, but she is misinformed to the extent of willful ignorance, and you need to be up to date on all of your vaccines or you and all of your classmates could get very sick and die,” the Doctor said.

 

“We're going to die?!”

 

“No! No one is going to die!” The Doctor attempted to quell the rising panic. “I have something that will keep you safe. It's a sort of upgrade patch. I have a tiny microscopic chip that will degrade in your bloodstream and be flushed out through your kidneys in a few days. It's harmless. But when the aliens try to touch you, it will transmit a signal to the devices they use to control you. I used this signal earlier, so I know it works. The aliens will be affected by their own devices, but you won't be. You'll be safe. You can leave this place and go back to your parents.”

 

Most of the children didn't understand a word of what the Doctor was saying, but they lined up for their shot nevertheless. When the Doctor had double and triple checked that everyone was prepared she hacked into one of the computers. “Now once I start altering their system all of the aliens will head for this room,” the Doctor explained. “I'll be here, clearing a path for you. I'll keep the doors open and the forcefield down for as long as I can, but you all have to run. Run as fast as you can. Help each other as much as you are able, but don't stop to pick up any toys or other possessions. Just run. Run until you get to your parents. Do you understand?”

 

“Aren't you coming with us,” Will asked.

 

“I can't. I have to stay at the computer and make sure your path is clear. But I know that you can do this, all of you,” the Doctor said.

 

“How will you get out,” a girl asked.

 

“Don't worry about me. I'll be fine.”

 

“But-” Will began.

 

“Get ready to run,” the Doctor said.

 

A few children grabbed onto each other's hands. They all lined up by the door, waiting for the Doctor's word. They trusted her. It scared her just how much they did. She couldn't fail them. The Doctor slammed a button on the computer and started typing with fervor. The moment the system picked up on her intrusion is began to fight back, but she was faster, cleverer and more creative than any string of numbers being carried on electrical impulses. She would keep the doors open and the forcefields down for as long as it took. “Stand up,” said a voice coming from the doorway. She recognized the voice. It was little emerald eyes.

 

She didn't even look at him. “No.”

 

“Then I'll kill you.”

 

She looked over her shoulder for a moment as she continued typing. Emerald eyes had a weapon in hand, by the looks of it a necrotic decay cannon. She had seen the like before, far into the future where they would be banned. She had always thought that she had no desire to ever run into the species that invented them. Now it looked like she had. “I've seen people get hit with those.”

 

“Then you know it is a painful death.”

 

“Yes,” she agreed. “A slow painful death, is that the sort of thing you intended to test on those children? Slow agonizing deaths?”

 

Emerald eyes smiled. “You seem offended.”

 

“Nothing could be more offensive to me.”

 

“I don't think you want a slow painful death Doctor. I think it is an experience you have endured before, and don't wish to again.”

 

The Doctor kept her attention focused on the screens before her. All that mattered was the children. She would keep emerald eyes talking for as long as she could. If he shot her she would keep working throughout her prolonged death. It should be enough time for the children to reach safety. “Everything that lives has to die,” she said. “One cannot exist without the other. Just as heat cannot exist without cold. Happiness cannot exist without sorrow. So too does life require death.”

 

“Are you ready then Doctor? Are you ready to die today? Is that what you want?”

 

“It doesn't matter what I want.” The Doctor thought of a long list of deaths, some of them were her own, but most belonged to family members, friends, lovers, even people she'd only known for a few hours. “It never has.”

 

“You saw the children when you were walking through the park. You saw them beat each other, torment each other, hurt themselves for the amusement of others. You saw that.”

 

“I also saw them work together. I saw them comfort each other. I saw them terrified, but refusing to succumb to it. Children make mistakes, especially when the adults in their lives lead them astray or leave them unattended. But children learn. They grow.”

 

Emerald eyes laughed. “You are an ancient being, told of in legends throughout history and across the cosmos. You are spoken of like a god in some cultures,” he said.

 

“I never wanted that.” The Doctor focused on the numbers. String after string of numbers ran through her eyes. “I never did,” she said.

 

“But you have it! You are mighty! You are powerful! You are so much better than those useless sniveling brats! Are you truly prepared to die, to throw away all that you are, the entirety of your legacy, just for a bunch of disgusting ape children?”

 

She turned her head, never taking her fingers off of the bloodstained keyboard, never ceasing her typing. “Always,” she answered.

 

“Then you are not as grand as the stories say, and you deserve to die.” The impact of the weapon didn't hurt at first. She returned her gaze to the screen almost without realizing the weapon had been fired. The pain started as just a spot of brightness over her right heart. It grew. It grew and grew as the flesh was eaten away. The Doctor knew the bioweapon would continue to erode her flesh until she was nothing but bone. She refused to address the issue. She kept her focus on the screens and the numbers.

 

“You're mad,” emerald eyes said. “Aren't you going to beg for mercy? Aren't you going to ask for an antidote?” He was incredulous.

 

“There is no antidote.”

 

“Nobody ever believes that,” he said. “They always think there's some secret antidote hidden away. They always beg us for it.”

 

“You should go. You should tell your boss you killed the Doctor. I'm sure she'll be impressed.” The Doctor's statement sounded more like an order than a suggestion.

 

Emerald eyes laughed. “Enjoy your death Doctor. I know I will.” He walked away.

 

The Doctor focused on the numbers. She would keep the doors open and the forcefields deactivated. That was what mattered. She would not fail.


	7. Part Seven

Yaz let herself be manhandled through the deserted center. “Where are the children?”

 

“Locked up with your precious Doctor.”

 

“What have you done to them?”

 

“You will experience the answer yourself soon enough.” One of the aliens shoved her and she stumbled. Yaz corrected herself.

 

“I'm not afraid of you.”

 

“The bravery of fools and lesser beings is but ignorance done up in gold. It means nothing.”

 

Yaz didn't answer. She supposed that maybe she should be afraid, but she couldn't bring herself to be. She believed that the Doctor could save them, and would save them. The Doctor had never let Yaz down before, and Yaz wasn't about to start doubting her now, no matter how dire circumstances might seem at the moment. Yaz was startled when all the doors to all of the buildings sprang open at once. She jumped in her skin. “What was that?” The answer soon became apparent when a herd of children emerged from the gigantic building they had been headed towards. The aliens ran for the children, and Yaz followed to try and stop the invaders from preventing the children's escape. However Yaz's interference turned out to be unnecessary. When the first alien reached out to touch a child it collapsed to the ground the moment skin brushed against skin. The child continued running as if nothing had happened at all. After about a dozen such instances the aliens realized what was happening and became fearful of the kids. They backed away and let the crowd pass by. Yaz scanned the crowd for a taller body topped with a dollop of blond hair.

 

An alien grabbed her wrist. “Interesting. You are safe to touch. You will come with me.”

 

A little boy ran up and shoved the alien, causing it to fall to the ground once skin touched skin. “Run! The Doctor said run!”

 

The boy followed his own advice before Yaz could thank him. He'd helped her with the alien, but she was even more grateful for the information he'd conveyed. The Doctor had freed the children. In all likelihood she was in the building they had come from. Yaz made sure to watch every last child race through the gate to make sure they were all safe, and then she ran as fast as she could for the building she believed the Doctor was in.

 

“Doctor! Doctor!” Yaz made her way down a long hall of empty cells to an open door that revealed a laboratory in a state of great disarray. Slumped over a keyboard, typing with bloody fingers, sat the Doctor, her face a bloodless sort of pale. “Doctor!”

 

Yaz put her arms around the Doctor, who turned her head and smiled. Her smile had a disturbing absent quality to it. “Hello Yaz. I'm calling you Yaz cause we're friends now,” she whispered with a faint croaking voice.

 

“Doctor, what happened to you?!”

 

“I have to focus. I can't let the children down.”

 

“The children are all safe! I watched them get through the gate. Ryan and Graham are making sure they're reunited with their parents at this very moment, I'm sure.”

 

“That's… good.” The Doctor let her head fall against Yaz's shoulder. “I’m sorry Yaz.”

 

Yaz tried to figure out where the Doctor's injuries were. She assumed a few cut up fingers weren't enough to debilitate the Doctor to this extent. “Doctor you don't have anything to be sorry for. You did it! You saved the kids! I'm so proud of you.” Yaz pushed back the Doctor's coat and noticed something odd about the way her shirt stretched over her chest. Yaz looked under the fabric and saw one of the most horrific sights she'd seen in her entire life. The Doctor's flesh was rotting away even as they spoke. “You need a hospital,” Yaz whispered. “We have to get you to the hospital right now!” Yaz started to pull the Doctor to her feet. “Come on.”

 

The Doctor whimpered in pain. “Stop.”

 

Yaz paused. “Doctor you need help.”

 

“It's too late,” the Doctor said.

 

“No.” Yaz shook her head. “No, I don't accept that.” Her vision blurred with tears. “You can't die Doctor. We need you. The universe needs you! Tell me what to do! Tell me how to fix this!” Yaz tried to palm her tears away, but her hands were shaking. “Doctor please!”

 

The Doctor reached up and took ahold of Yaz's hand. “It's better this way. In the long run you'll be better off. Trust me,” she said.

 

“Doctor listen to me. I love you. You're the most amazing person I've ever met. You showed me the stars,” Yaz felt snot and tears mixing together and running down her face, but she didn't care. All she cared about was the Doctor. “And so many other wonderful things. I want to see the rest of it with you.”

 

The Doctor closed her eyes and let her head rest against Yaz's shoulder again. “I'm sorry.”

 

“Stop saying that! I don't want you to be sorry! I want you to live! So live! Please, we need more time. I need more time. Please.”

 

The Doctor opened her eyes, and Yaz was just about to start begging again when the Doctor raised a trembling hand and pointed across the room at an empty vat. “Help me get over there,” she whispered. “Please.”

 

Yaz didn't need to be told twice. She dragged the Doctor over with as much care as possible, and with gentle motions sat her down on the floor in front of it. The Doctor began fiddling with the controls. Yaz tried to figure out what the Doctor was doing, but as far as she could tell the device was just an empty metal container. “What is it?”

 

“It's a DNA manipulator. It transformed the aliens into perfect genetic copies of the children they captured. If I can just make a few adjustments,” the Doctor yelped as a surge of electricity cauterized a few of her fingers. “Then I can use this technology to transform my dying cells into healthy ones.”

 

“And then you'll be alright?” Yaz felt every muscle in her body tense up. She needed this to work. She couldn't bear the thought of losing the Doctor. “This will cure you?”

 

“Maybe.”

 

Maybe wasn't good enough, not by a long shot, but it was all Yaz had at the moment, so she clung to it with all her strength. “How can I help,” she asked. “What can I bring you?”

 

Yaz watched the Doctor yank a wire out of the machine. “Back up,” the Doctor whispered. “I don't want you to get hurt.”

 

Yaz took several steps back. “Please be careful,” she begged. “Please don't die.”

 

“Death comes to us all,” the Doctor reminded Yaz of what she'd said on their first trip.

 

“Not today,” Yaz pleaded.

 

The Doctor slammed the sharp point of the copper wire into her chest and fell to the ground, convulsing. Yaz rushed forward, but she hesitated to touch the Doctor, lest she exacerbate her condition. The Doctor stopped shaking and then lay on the ground for a few seconds that stretched into eternity for Yaz. At last the Doctor sat up and removed the wire from her body. Yaz noticed that her fingers were now devoid of both cuts and burns. The Doctor pulled aside her shirt, and Yaz saw smooth unblemished skin.

 

Yaz dropped to her knees and pulled the Doctor into her arms. “Thank you,” she said as she began sobbing. She tried to hold in some of the emotions, but they were too intense and demanded to be free.

 

The Doctor returned the embrace. “No Yaz, thank you.” She squeezed Yaz with all of her strength, which at the moment wasn't much.

 

“You need to rest,” Yaz declared. “We need to get you back to the TARDIS.” She pulled back a bit and examined the Doctor's face; some color was returning, but she still looked washed out and exhausted. “Can you stand?”

 

The Doctor looked into Yaz's eyes, and Yaz saw Universes in the Doctor's gaze. She saw constellations burned up and gone, and ones just now starting to form. She saw battlefields return to forests where children wandered and picked wildflowers, heedless of the bonedust mixed in with the soil beneath their bare feet. The Doctor leaned forward and put her lips against Yaz's own in a brief chaste kiss, before slumping back against the vat.

 

“Doctor,” Yaz breathed.

 

“Sorry,” the Doctor said as she scrambled to her feet. She wavered a bit upon rising, but Yaz shot up and caught her before she could fall. “Adrenaline,” the Doctor said. “You never know how a near death experience will mess with your brain,” she began to ramble. “I remember this one time I'd almost been thrown off a train, and afterwards I-”

 

“It's alright,” Yaz interrupted. “We should get out of here before the aliens come back.”

 

“Yes, yes we should. Ten points to Yasmin Khan for that excellent point, and a hundred points for saving my life. You're winning.”

 

Yaz supported the wobbling Doctor as they left the lab and walked down the long empty prison hall. Yaz kept an arm around the Doctor's waist, and the Doctor had an arm across Yaz's shoulder. Yaz froze when they stepped outside, which made the Doctor halt as well. The aliens were standing in a circle around them. There was no way out but through a ring of teeth. The Doctor disentangled herself from Yaz and took a single step forward. Yaz prepared to catch the Doctor if she fell. “We should go back inside,” Yaz whispered. “Maybe there's a back door, or you can build something.”

 

The Doctor turned and gave Yaz a dazzling smile, before returning her attention to the crowd of alien invaders. “So… here we are.”

 

The circle rippled to allow the leader to the forefront. She took a few steps towards the Doctor, but left a wide gulf between the two of them. “You offered us a deal,” she said.

 

“Yeah, I did. I did do that,” the Doctor said.

 

“You said we had one chance to surrender.”

 

Yaz couldn't quite believe what she was hearing. She couldn't figure why the aliens would be surrendering when they had Yaz and the Doctor backed into a corner. Then she realized something. Every time the aliens had accomplished a goal the Doctor had spoiled their plans. She had circumvented their technology at every turn. Yaz looked at the crowd, and it dawned upon her that they were afraid. They thought the Doctor had another trick up her sleeve. As far as Yaz knew she might very well have. “I've always been a believer in second chances,” the Doctor said. “Are you ready to surrender?”

 

The leader nodded. “You’ll let us go home?”

 

The Doctor wore an exhausted smile. “Yes.”

 

“Do you demand prisoners?”

 

“No, you are all free to leave.”

 

“Do you want money, techn-”

 

“I just want you to go!” A ripple of fear went through the aliens, and the leader, still in the guise of a small innocent child, took a step back. The Doctor inhaled a deep calming breath. “Just go. Never return,” she ordered.

 

The leader turned to her army. “Pack the essentials and return to the ship.”

 

The formation dissolved to follow her command, leaving Yaz and the Doctor a clear path to the exit. On their way to the gate Yaz spotted an alien wearing the likeness of a boy with green eyes watching them. All of the aliens looked skittish and afraid, but he was the most terrified of them all. The Doctor followed Yaz's sightline and stopped. The alien froze like a rodent in the gaze of a cobra. The Doctor took one step in his direction. “I forgive you,” she said. Then the Doctor took Yaz's arm and the two of them left the center together. They didn't look back.

 

Once they were outside the gate Yaz squeezed the Doctor's hand. “I'm proud of you,” Yaz said. “You did the right thing.”

 

The Doctor grinned at Yaz. She looked ready to collapse, but she was alive and Yaz was so grateful for that. “Thank you,” the Doctor said. “Thank you for everything.”


	8. Part Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is late, seven hours late and way over length. I tried cutting it down, I thought about splitting it in two and giving this story an extra chapter, but finally I just decided to post it as is and remember to do a better job next time. Anyway, enjoy the conclusion to Pleasure Island.

Ryan and Graham found it more than difficult to organize the chaos of parents charging towards the gates in search of their children; it was impossible. “Ryan, we need to think of something to tell these pe- Hey!”

 

Ryan whirled around and saw a furious woman clutching Graham's arm in an uncomfortable-looking hold. “Where is my niece,” she demanded at a high volume.

 

Ryan looked behind her and saw Keisha hanging back. ‘What happened,’ he mouthed at her. 'Where's Tally?’ He examined the crowd, but Keisha and her mum were alone.

 

'She disappeared,’ Keisha mouthed back.

 

“I'm looking,” Graham shouted.

 

'Again,’ Ryan mouthed to Keisha.

 

Keisha threw out her hands in a perfect pantomime of exasperation. 'Yeah.’

 

Keisha's mother noticed her and Ryan's silent conversation and redirected her ire onto Ryan. “Who are you?! Why are you talking to my daughter? What did you do to my niece?”

 

“I said that if we hung around here we'd get taken for pedophiles,” Graham said as he reclaimed his arm. “Isn't that what I said?”

 

“Yeah Granddad, that's what you said.”

 

“Who are you people?!”

 

Ryan took several steps back from the irate woman. “We're just trying to help,” he said.

 

Someone screamed. “Oh thank God!” A flood of children went racing through the gate and into the crowd of their anxious parents.

 

Keisha's mother shoved Ryan. “I want you to tell me who you are and everything you know about what's going on! Right now!”

 

Ryan held his hands up in surrender. “All we know is that aliens set up this park to get access to the kids. We've been trying to stop that from happening. We don't know where Tally is, but we'll keep looking until we find her, I promise,” Ryan said in what he hoped was an encouraging tone. “We'll make sure every single child that came here is safe.”

 

“But WHO are YOU?” Keisha's mother stabbed his chest with her finger.

 

“Ow, stop that.”

 

Graham interceded. “Miss, please don't assault my grandson,” he requested.

 

“Assault?! I'll have the both of you thrown in prison if you don't answer me! I know people in the government, important people. My-”

 

“Look!” Keisha pointed behind them.

 

To Ryan's relief he saw his friends. “Doctor!”

 

Keisha's mother was taken aback. “What did you just say,” she demanded. “Did you-”

 

“Doctor we're over here!” Ryan waved at Yaz and the Doctor until they spotted him.

 

As Yaz and the Doctor approached Ryan noticed that the Doctor didn't look to be in the best of health. She was relying on Yaz for support as they made their way towards the tense knot of people. The Doctor had always been fair, but now her complexion was devoid of all color. Before she could speak Keisha's mother confronted them. “I'm going to ask you one more time what happened, and if you don't answer me I'm going to ask my sister-in-law to have you thrown into some top secret prison! She'll do it too, because her daughter is missing, and it's your fault!”

 

The Doctor tilted her head to the side. “Who are you?” The Doctor looked from Keisha's mother to Keisha herself, examining them.

 

“No! Who are you,” Keisha's mum shouted.

 

“I'm the Doctor,” the Doctor said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

 

Keisha's mother recoiled, but she recovered herself in short order. “The Doctor is a man.”

 

“Oh yeah,” Graham said. “She told me once she used to be a white-haired Scotsman.”

 

“No,” Keisha's mother insisted. “The Doctor is a brown-haired Englishman. My husband told me about the Doctor. I've heard the stories about the 'magic man’ my sister-in-law went traveling with all those years ago, when Keisha was just a baby.” Keisha's mother used jazz hands to emphasize the phrase 'magic man’ but in a sarcastic way, as though she didn't think he was magical at all.

 

The Doctor shook her head, not so much in disbelief as out of despair. “No,” she said in a plaintive tone. “You said that a little girl has gone missing, but I made sure that all the children got away. I made sure of it.”

 

“Then where is my niece?! Where is Tallulah?! If she's safe she should be here!”

 

“Tallulah?” The Doctor's voice squeaked out.

 

“Doctor, what's the matter,” Yaz asked.

 

The Doctor put her hands up against her temples like she had when the Thijarians had been interfering with her head. “This can't be happening. This isn't fair! I didn't know!”

 

“Doc, what's going on,” Graham asked.

 

The Doctor was shaking so much that Ryan thought she might fall to pieces right in front of them. “Who is Tallulah to you,” Ryan asked. “And where is she? Is she in trouble?”

 

“If she's in trouble, you're all in trouble; my sister-in-law is not someone you want to get on the bad side of,” Keisha's mother said.

 

“Who is she,” Yaz asked. “Who's your sister-in-law that's so important?”

 

“She does a lot of top secret work for the government she can't talk about, but-”

 

The Doctor interrupted. “Martha Jones.”

 

“Smith-Jones, but yes. How did you-”

 

The Doctor burst into tears. Ryan was gobsmacked by the sight. He'd never seen the Doctor in such a state before, and he couldn't for the life of him understand what had just happened. “Who's Martha Jones?”

 

“She brought me back to life the day it rained on the moon and saved all life on Earth from total annihilation. She inspired twenty-eight of Shakespeare's sonnets and helped banish the Carrionites back to their realm. She-”

 

“Shut up!” The Doctor jolted as if awakening from a trance, and she looked up to meet the angry gaze of her accuser. “You have no idea where she is, do you? You've lost her.”

 

The Doctor just stood there, as though encased in a moment of time. She didn't even look like she was breathing. But the very next second she was running, with no space between racing forward and standing still. She ran, and Ryan, Yaz and Graham followed after her. Keisha and her mother were hot on their heels. “Doctor! What's the plan Doctor,” Ryan shouted after her.

 

The Doctor didn't respond, but soon they were outside the doors of the TARDIS, and the Doctor was unlocking them and sprinting inside and down a hall. “You're not getting away from me so easily Doctor! You aren't just going to fly away,” Keisha's mum yelled.

 

By the time they were all inside the control room and Keisha was doing the standard oohing and aahing the Doctor had returned holding a hairbrush of all things. “What’s that for exactly,” Yaz queried as the Doctor approached the control panel with single minded determination. “Doctor, talk to me.”

 

“Where's my niece?!”

 

The Doctor pulled a strand of hair out of the hairbrush and laid it upon a piece of machinery before she began a ferocious marathon of typing. “I'll program the sensors to detect derivative DNA.” She looked over her shoulder at Keisha's mother. “Do Martha and Mickey have any other children?”

 

“Why? Do you want to get them killed too?”

 

“Nobody's dead,” Ryan said. “I bet she just used her vanishing trinket so she'd feel safe until the aliens were gone. I bet once all the chaos dies down she'll abracadabra herself into appearance right where she was before she disappeared.” Even as Ryan spoke he knew he was saying what he wanted to be true more than what he believed to be true, and he knew most of the people with him knew it too. “I'm sure she's fine,” he said.

 

“Did that belong to her,” Yaz asked, pointing at the hairbrush. “To your Martha Jones?”

 

“She was never my Martha Jones,” the Doctor said as her movements became more and more frantic. The TARDIS squeaked in displeasure over a particular harsh yank of one of her levers. “She never belonged to anybody but herself, and I… I was- No that can't be! I set the detection radius to cover the entire planet! She-” The Doctor faced Keisha's mother again. “Is Tallulah adopted?”

 

“Why would you think-”

 

“Just answer the question!”

 

Keisha's mother took a cautious step back and placed a protective arm in front of her daughter. Ryan opened his mouth to assure her that the Doctor wouldn't hurt anybody and that she only wanted to help, but then he looked at the fire in the Doctor's eyes and decided his words wouldn't hold much weight. “She's not adopted. Leo was there when she was born. He said poor Mickey-”

 

“Get off my ship.”

 

Ryan was thrown by the Doctor's abrupt and more than little nasty command. “I'm not going anywhere until you tell me where-”

 

“This is my fault,” the Doctor said. “Once again I have to reap the consequences of my mercy. But I won't let Martha be the victim of my ineptitude, not this time. My sensors say that Tallulah isn't on this planet.”

 

Ryan watched Yaz's eyes widen and her hand fly to her mouth. “The ship! The leader told all the aliens to return to the ship!”

 

“Maybe they haven't left yet,” Graham suggested. “We might be able to catch-”

 

The Doctor rotated a monitor so that it was within view of all the room's occupants. It looked like some sort of sonar to Ryan, and he saw an angry blinking red dot moving away from them. “That's the ship,” Ryan said, pointing. “It's in flight, it's left Earth.”

 

“If Tally isn't registering as being anywhere on this planet then she's on that ship. I'm going to land the TARDIS there and recover her, but I'm not endangering any more children, so for the last time,” she looked right at Keisha's mother as she yelled “Take your daughter and get off of my ship! Now!”

 

Mother and daughter clasped hands and fled the TARDIS as fast as they could. The second the doors shut the Doctor yanked a lever down and the TARDIS engines started groaning. “You didn't have to scream at them like that,” Ryan said. “Poor Keisha, she was petrified of you. You could have just-”

 

The TARDIS slammed into its destination with much more force than Ryan had grown accustomed to. The Doctor strode to the doors and threw them open. Ryan looked at his grandfather, who put up his hands in a gesture of befuddlement. Ryan shifted his gaze to Yaz, who donned a resolute expression and followed the Doctor onto the alien vessel. Ryan exchanged one last look with Graham and then the two of them followed as well. They were in a cavernous  room, full of steaming pipes, grinding gears and dim lights. The Doctor stopped without any warning while they were all right behind her, forcing them to come to a sudden halt as well. She held out her hand to Ryan.

 

“What? Oh.” Ryan reached into his pocket and pulled out the Sonic. He handed it to her and she took it without a word of thanks.

 

The Doctor knelt in front of an insignificant looking piece of technology. She held her Sonic to it and got to work. “Should we split up and look for Tally,” Graham asked.

 

“Don't leave my sight,” she ordered. It was a somewhat impossible command in the literal sense, since she wouldn't look at them.

 

“Don't move.” Ryan looked up to see an alien in the form of a ten-year-old boy aiming a weapon at the Doctor. “Stay where you are.”

 

The Doctor stood up and blocked the alien's access to her companions with her body. It was a pointless gesture by Ryan's approximation since she was the one the alien appeared interested in. He didn't so much as look at the rest of them. “Or what?”

 

The alien's hands started to shake. “Or I'll shoot you. I don't know how you survived the first shot, but you won't survive this one.”

 

“Then shoot.” The Doctor smiled at the alien boy, and Ryan felt a chill go down his spine.

 

“Doc!” Graham sounded terrified, and Ryan knew just how he felt. The worst part was that Ryan didn't know if he was scared for the Doctor or scared of her. “What are you-”

 

“Would you mind shooting me just a bit faster,” the Doctor asked. “If it's all the same to you I'd like to be dead before this ship crashes into the sun. I was almost killed by a living sun once, and it is not an experience I'm eager to repeat any time soon.”

 

The thing that Ryan kept having to remind himself was an alien invader and not a terrified child looked towards the machine the Doctor had been fiddling with. His eyes widened into unnatural proportions. “What did you do?! Fix it! Fix it right now! I demand-”

 

Red lights started flashing and an alarm started screaming at them. Aliens that looked like children, sweet innocent children that would be burned to a crisp, came running into the room. One Ryan recognized pushed past all the rest to face the Doctor. The leader, who looked so innocent and had such cruel plans, who had been so calm and disinterested and now looked as petrified as any real child would be. “You said that we were free to go! Where is your honor?!”

 

“I don't have any! Where's Tally?”

 

The leader looked dumbfounded. “What?!”

 

“The child you stole! Where is she?!”

 

“We didn't take any child! Please, reverse the course before we're all killed, yourself and your friends included!” The alien looked at them with wild eyes. “Tell her,” she begged.

 

The Doctor turned to her friends. “Get back inside the TARDIS. She'll take you to safety if we run out of time.” The Doctor returned her attention to the aliens. “Where is she?!”

 

“I have no idea! We wouldn't have taken a child with us when we evacuated,” she said.

 

“What, you're too noble,” Ryan asked. “That was your plan originally, you said so.”

 

“But we wouldn't now!”

 

“Why not,” Yaz asked.

 

“Because we're afraid of her!”

 

“Then where is she,” the Doctor shouted loud enough that the words bounced off all the screaming metal in the room before returning to them. “I scanned the whole planet for a living being with her DNA and came up with nothing! So where is she if not on your ship?”

 

“She must be dead.” The words fell on them all like the proverbial millstones hanging on their necks, dragging them down into a truth they had all suspected, but none were ready to accept. “Because you can scan our ship, do what you like; you won't find her here.”

 

Then there was silence. It stretched on and on and on. One of the aliens made as if to speak, but a single glance from the leader silenced him. They all waited, each and every one of them, alien and human, to see what the Doctor would decide. “You're telling the truth,” she said at last, voice saturated with resignation and grief. “She isn't here.”

 

“No, she isn't, now please-”

 

The doctor pointed her Sonic at the machinery, and the red lights switched back to their normal color. A few aliens collapsed to the ground in relief. “One day,” the Doctor whispered with such softness that they all had to strain to hear her. “One day this will all be a paragraph in a history text, if it is remembered at all. One day, your species will forget why they avoided this planet for so very long. Some of you will get it into your heads to come back here-” the Doctor began.

 

“We won't,” the leader pleaded.

 

“You may think that you've met the Oncoming Storm today, but you haven't. The day your ancestors decide to return to this planet, whether in a thousand years, ten thousand, a hundred thousand, on that day they will meet the Oncoming Storm. No matter how much time passes, I will always be here.”

 

“We won't come back. I will devote the rest of my life into warning them not to come back.”

 

“It won't be enough.”

 

“Please!” The alien leader was weeping. “I beg you for mercy! Please forgive us! We'll change! I'll tell them about you, about how you spared us, about how there's a better way! I'll do whatever you want us to do, but please just spare us! We can change!”

 

The Doctor didn't answer. She turned around and walked back to the TARDIS. Yaz followed behind her, and Graham was right after Yaz, but Ryan hesitated. “Did one of you kill her,” he asked the aliens. “Was it some sort of accident?” He tried to wrap his head around a child, one he had just spoken to a few hours ago, one that had saved his life, being dead. “Was it revenge?”

 

“It wasn't us. Maybe it was a human. We lied about the park being safe. Maybe someone took her and killed her. But it wasn't us.”

 

“If that's what happened then it's still your fault. If she died because of what you did you're responsible even if you didn't kill her with your own hands.” Ryan felt a hand settle on his shoulder. Graham was standing behind him, looking hollowed out.

 

“Time to go son,” Graham said.

 

Ryan knew Graham was right. He followed his grandfather back to the others and then they all followed the Doctor inside. She made her way to the controls in silence, setting their coordinates as if disconnected from her own actions. Ryan couldn't think of what he might be able to say to her. He was even more at a loss when she sank to her knees and started sobbing with her full body. Ryan looked to Graham and Yaz, both of them frozen in horror, unable to go to her. The weight of what had happened was too much.

 

“Why are you crying?”

 

Ryan looked over towards the sound of the voice, to a small figure standing in the entrance to the hallway. A little girl was standing there holding a bowl of sherbet, which was smeared all around her lips. The beads in her hair clacked together as they bounced off her shoulder with each step forward. Tally was on the TARDIS. Ryan realized that she'd been there the entire time.

 

The Doctor stared at the child as if she were some sort of ghost, which in a way Ryan supposed she was. Tally stopped in front of the Doctor. “I found your kitchen.” She held up the bowl of sherbet. “I stole some of your food. Are you angry with me,” she asked.

 

“Nope,” the Doctor croaked. “No, I'm not even a little bit angry.” The Doctor pulled out her Sonic and waved it over Tally, studying it for a few moments as if she didn't believe what it was telling her. The Doctor reached into Tally's pocket and pulled out her locket. She opened it and revealed a small key that had some sort of computer chip attached to it. “I gave this to your mother. It was a gift.”

 

“You're the magic man? The Doctor from the stars? The hero of the heavens?”

 

The Doctor released one last sob. “Oh Tallulah Smith-Jones.” She threw her arms around the child and hugged her. “I hope so.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it! That's the end. I hope you enjoyed. Next story will find the team in Egypt, dealing with the most ambitious irrigation project of all time. Wait, come back! I promise that's more interesting than it sounds. Anyway there will be lots of cool historical figures there, so join me Monday for part three of this series if you'd like. Also if you made it this far please consider leaving a comment. Thanks for reading!


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